Bulldogs chairman George Peponis yesterday urged fellow board members to take a calm and united approach to "stop the hemorrhaging of the club", following a highly emotional week.

As the Belmore club reels from the resignation of chief executive Steve Mortimer and the sacking of football manager Garry Hughes, Peponis said the turmoil had to stop. This came as Mortimer's brother, Peter, a director of the club, said yesterday that two players faced the sack and that Peponis had made the decision to remove the CEO.

"It is a very emotive issue," Peponis said. "There are good people, the families are involved and are still in the club in football operations or at the board, and the emotion is there because of that. But it has to stop here, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. It is time to stop it."

The upheaval follows the gang-rape allegations levelled at six Bulldogs players by a 20-year-old Coffs Harbour woman. The players have denied the allegations.

Peponis, who has stepped in with two other directors, Barry Phillis and Clive Gartner, to temporarily replace Steve Mortimer, denied he asked his long-time friend to resign.

"It was not my decision, I did not instigate a thing," said Peponis, who rang Steve Mortimer yesterday to organise a lunch for next week. "Steve saw it, it was made clear what was happening, and Steve's decision was honourable. At no stage did I say he should resign and I never pushed or tapped him on the shoulder."

Peter Mortimer became the first Bulldogs director to speak out and publicly describe the Coffs Harbour weekend on February 22 as "lunacy and stupidity" to Channel Ten.

He also told other media outlets that two players faced the sack, but the former premiership-winning winger later apologised to Peponis over those comments.

"I overstepped the mark in saying that two players would probably lose their contracts," he said. "That's not my decision. That's a board decision."

Peponis said the board had not discussed what penalties might apply, nor how many players might face disciplinary action in the wake of the Coffs Harbour weekend because such decisions would be made after the police had finished their investigations.

Peter Mortimer told Channel Ten: "It was the board decision that Garry Hughes should leave and two days later it was the chairman's decision that the CEO should leave. You can't help but think two good men are out of the club's history as a result of lunacy and stupidity in Coffs Harbour a month ago."

But he insisted the players who breached the club's code of conduct would "pay for it heavily".

Peter Mortimer said the club did not know which players were the subject of the Strike Force McGuigon investigation but said the club had already identified which players had broken the club's code of conduct.

"There is no doubt some immoral things happened in Coffs Harbour. Whether it was illegal is up to the police to decide," he said. "Some rules were broken and it will all come out when the police finish their findings. The club would discipline players very heavily whether [sex] allegations were made or not. They have broken our code."

Peter Mortimer said the police investigation, which is forecast to take another three weeks before a brief is given to the Director of Public Prosecutions, was appropriate. But he acknowledged the actions of a few players may have hurt innocent players, relationships, families and supporters.

"You can't get frustrated when the outcome might result in somebody spending time in jail," he said. "There is no point the police making haste to satisfy the public. I just hope the findings are accurate and are based on fact.

"If the police press charges what I said [about sacking players] . . . is nothing compared to what the punishment is likely to be."

Steve Mascord writes: Wests Tigers will meet the NRL today to discuss their application for a competition point out of Sunday's controversial loss to Souths.

The joint-venture club yesterday exchanged letters with the league, which insisted it would not alter the result of the match because of an officiating error.

"We just find that the best way to discuss these issues is face to face," said Wests Tigers chief executive Steve Noyce, who will consider using the league's appeals system if there is no joy from today's summit.

NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said the league would be disappointed if the club chose to take legal action over the affair.

Manly met referees coach Robert Finch yesterday. "I think we got a greater understanding of each other and we will send a referee to one of their training sessions shortly," said Finch.

St George Illawarra centre Mark Gasnier returned to training yesterday after telling the club a week ago he felt like quitting the game.

"If you feel stale or lack motivation, those feelings don't go away straight away," said agent George Mimis. "But it is not true to say that Mark is a week-to-week proposition at the club."

Gavin Orr, manager for Bulldogs rookie Sonny Bill Williams, said last night he expected the 18-year-old to choose New Zealand as the country for which he wanted to play international football. He is also eligible for Australia.

And Bradford have indicated they are likely to give coach Brian Noble permission to accept a role as Britain coach, replacing Australian David Waite.